Chasing a Love Story
by Poison-Droplets
Summary: Calypso is a small town girl returning home after a long time away. She never expected to get caught in a love story with an elfish prince, and to be in the middle of a war that can't be stopped. rating may change in later chapters. Nuada/OC
1. Welcome Home

**Welcome Home**

First off, I don't own any of the characters from Hellboy. I wish I did because they are amazing characters, but I don't. So I can't claim that they are mine. But I do own Calypso (Callie), so please don't take her. :]

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It had been such a long time since she had been home. The woman sighed as she set her bags gently on the ground. She had been gone six, maybe seven years. It was hard to remember how long it had taken her to get back home where she belonged. With a nearly audible sigh, she quickly unlocked the door with a quick glance behind her at the dark that threatened to swallow her whole. She knew too well how the dark could grab your soul and throw you down a pit that took far too long to get out of.

Her name was Calypso, but she never wanted people to call her that. No, her name was Callie, and if anyone called her anything else she could burst a blood vessel. She'd been traveling all these years, and she hadn't told anyone where she was going. Yes, she should have felt guilty for doing this to her friends, to her family. But at the time it seemed like the right thing to do, and she hoped to God that she wasn't wrong.

Her home was in a tiny suburb right outside of New York City. It was small, and quaint, but it was exactly what she needed. After all these years, she was glad that she had kept the home, paid the bills when it they were due. She was twenty three now, god she felt so much older. She had left home when she was seventeen, the day she graduated from high school. Callie was very young to start kindergarten, four years old to be precise. But she didn't mind that she was always the youngest of her class, and she excelled in everything that she took. Her teachers all wanted her to go to college to major in their class, but instead she had disappeared. It was possible that everyone thought she had died, more then possible, but she couldn't think of that right now. Picking up her bags, she hip checked the door open and walked into her home.

It was in worse condition that she had thought it would be. Everything was exactly how she left it thank God, but it was all old. The white sheets still covered everything, and she could remember every sheet that she had laid down. Walking into the room, she gently set her bags next to the door and went to check out how the rest of the house was holding up. The stairs were holding up well, it looked like someone had recently repaired a few of them. It had probably been one of her family members, hoping that she would eventually return to the place where she belonged. Letting the tips of her toes touch the first step she sighed loudly when the creak echoed from deep in the wood work. Yeah, she was going to have to do a lot of work to wake this house up. But for now, it was time to assess the damage her being gone for so long had caused.

Hearing a scuttling sound behind her, she whirled around. Mice were something that Callie really didn't like, and she wasn't sure that she could deal with mice by herself. But all she saw behind her were her own footprints outlined by dust. "Hmm," she whispered.

Making her way up the stairs, she lightly trailed her fingers against the railing on the straight stairs. The grime of six years stuck to the tips of her fingers, but she couldn't make herself care at this point. It was like being home all over again, and what a wonderful homecoming. True there was no one here to welcome her home, but Callie had never been one for big homecomings. She liked to simply be welcomed home by the house itself, and she couldn't help but think that just maybe the house was as happy to see her as she was to see it. At the top of the stairs there were only two doors, both pale with age. One led to her bathroom, and the other to her bedroom. But it was the bedroom that she was so anxious to see. Opening the creaking door, Callie stepped into the room that she had missed so much in all the six years.

Since it was dark out she couldn't see as much as she would have wished, but the she knew the room like the back of her hand. Walking over to the lamp that was on the bedside table, she flipped the switch back and forth. "No lights?" She murmured. That was odd, there should have still been electricity in the house, she was paying the bills for it and she best well have it. Getting on her hands and knees, she followed the wire to the wall where she felt the tear in the cord. She held the cord up to her face so she could see in the faint moonlight that streamed through the window she whispered, "God damn mice."

She wouldn't be spending the night in her room then, Callie sighed. Ever since she was little she had what she called the nighttime jitters. She couldn't sleep in any room without a light, even if it was just a small one. Her friends used to get incredibly mad at her because they couldn't sleep with a light on in their rooms. But Callie would somehow always get them to turn on a light for her so that she could sleep well, even if they didn't sleep at all. If there only reason that the light wouldn't turn on in this room was because of a chewed cord, everything would be alright. If there really was no electricity in this house, then she would have to go and spend the night in an inn or motel. Darkness and Callie didn't mix, and she would do anything to not have to spend the night without the lights that she needed so badly.

Clomping down the stairs, she realized that maybe her boots where a little ridiculous here in New York. In her travels, she had gotten used to wearing things that didn't draw attention to herself. Usually that consisted of big brown work boots, loose jeans, and flannel shirts that kept her warm. But here in New York she didn't want to do that. Sure it wouldn't draw that much attention. There was more then enough diversity for the entire world in New York City. But before she had left she actually took care of herself well, groomed herself the way prima donnas could. Callie had let that go when she had gone on her travels, wanting to be left alone and try something that she had never done before. But here, it was time to come back to herself.

Once in the living room, she flicked the switch and sighed in relief when the lights flooded on. Almost immediately the phone started ringing. "Well that answers the question if the phone bill was actually paying the phone company," she murmured as she set off to grab the phone.

"Hello?"

The voice on the other side of the phone was harsh, raspy, and a voice that Callie hated more then anything else in the world. "I hope you know you young scoundrel that the house you are in right now belongs to someone and that I'm calling the authorities right now."

Leaning against the wall, Callie answered sarcastically, "Oh but Mrs. Peterson you are on the phone with me. How in the world could you call the authorities right now?"

The spluttering on the other end of the phone was enough to make Callie laugh like she hadn't in a long time. "It's me Mrs. Peterson, Callie Anderson. I'm home for good now."

"You're home! Oh we missed you so much sweetheart." The change in tone was almost something that was impressive. The woman was as good an actress as the rest of the people in Hollywood. Though if you ever mentioned that to her she'd get angrier then a badger would at being poked. She was still trying to get into the acting business, even though she was well into her seventies. The woman could only be described as eccentric. And that was precisely the reason why Callie hated her so much. The woman was a liar to the core, and had been so her entire life.

"Thank you Mrs. Peterson. I'm going to get off of the phone now darling, but I'll call you in the morning. It's quite late you know."

"It's not late!" Callie made a quick glance at her watch and rolled her eyes when she saw that it was nearing eleven o'clock. And eleven o'clock was too late for an old woman like Mrs. Peterson to be up.

"Mrs. Peterson, I'll call you in the morning. Good night!" And with those as her final words, she slammed the phone down on the receiver as hard as she could. Good Lord she hated that woman. She was perhaps the most nosey neighbor in the world! She had been before Callie had left, and it seems that now that her parents were dead and the house was hers she was just as nosey.

But then she heard that noise again, the same one that she had heard when she first stepped into the house. Turning slowly, she waited until the noise happened again. It was coming from inside the kitchen, so she wandered that way keeping as quiet as possible. Again there was the same sound, but this time it was coming from inside the cabinet nearest to her. Grabbing a glass that was still on the table from when she left, and ignoring the ring of dust it made, she slowly opened the cabinet and slammed the glass down on top of what had been making the noise.

"Holy shit," she whispered. Whatever she had just captured was the oddest looking thing that she had ever seen in her life. It had a very tiny head, and more limbs then she could count at the moment. It was whirling around and slamming into the sides of the glass, obviously trying to get out with as much energy as the little thing could give. It was probably the size of her middle finger, but tinged a light green. Tilting her head to the side, Callie patted the counter next to her, trying to find something that she could slide under the glass.

Once a bottom was firmly in place underneath the bottom, she carried the glass and the creature in it back to the living room and set it on top of the coffee table. But as soon as she let go of the top of the glass the thing started to slam into the sides so vigorously that the glass threatened to turn over. Grabbing a dictionary next the phone, she set it on top of the glass gently effectively stilling the creature's movements.

"Now, what in the world are you?" Leaning down closer to the glass, she tapped gently. The creature was the weirdest thing she'd ever seen. Now that she could actually see it under the light, she realized that there was no way that the creature was something that anyone had ever seen before. Its green skin looked more like the mold that grows on bread when you leave it out too long, and its mouth dwarfed its head. Razor sharp teeth filled its mouth, and it was constantly gnawing at the air like it was extremely hungry. Shuddering, she looked at the eight feet it had that ended with sharp points. It walked like a spider, swaying side to side. And at the middle of its back were a set of tiny green wings, but they were so shredded Callie wondered if the creature was able at all to fly.

Shaking her head, she said to the creature, "You are the weirdest thing I have ever seen. And I have no idea what to do with you." The thing looked at her, but settled down a bit. She thought it settled down a bit at least. It stopped shaking the glass so much, and it stared at her a with wide eyes. But who knew what the creature was actually doing, it wasn't like she could compare it to something that she had seen before.

Putting her hands on her knees, she stood up with a groan. It had been a very long day, and she hadn't slept in at least forty eight hours, probably more. The burden of tiredness apparently thought that snuggling into her back with sharp daggers was something that it could do with ease. "I've really got to go to sleep little one." Leaning down, she winced when her back cracked loudly. "So where am I going to put you?"

The creature looked up at her with its beady eyes, and Callie wondered if it could actually understand what she was saying. Feeling sympathy for the tiny thing, she thought about the hamster cage that should still be sitting her room. There wasn't a hamster in there anymore. She had sold it to the neighbor kids before she left for five bucks. "I know exactly where I'll put you."

Grabbing the glass and its burden, she clomped back up the stairs and into her room. The clouds had finally stopped covering the moonlight, and the full moon shone onto her face like a lover's caress. Callie had always loved the moon; it was something that she couldn't help but love. When she was little, her mother used to tell her that the moon was actually a goddess, sent to watch over all of humanity during the night. It wasn't a bad omen at all when the moon was full, instead it was the moon mother at her full power, protecting all of the humans she watched over. Wandering over to the window, Callie stared up at the moon. "It's so beautiful when it's full like this, don't you think?" She looked down at her passenger and was pleased to see it pressing its tiny hands against the glass and staring up at the moon as well. "I'll put you by the window so you can see the moon all night."

Sliding the paper from the bottom of the glass, she watched as the creature plopped into the hamster cage. "Hopefully this will hold you all night. I wouldn't want you to get out. I think I have mice, and they could probably take a tiny thing like you." She laughed when the creature bared its teeth at her, and carried the hamster cage to the window. "There you go, the moon mother will watch over you all night little one."

Falling onto the bed, she immediately felt sleep welcome her into waiting arms.

* * *

At the same time, another woman was receiving a call from an old neighbor.

Groggily she answered the phone, "Hello?"

"Liz, you need to get out here right now!"

Turning on the light, Liz sat up and rubbed her eyes. "Mrs. Peterson? What do you want it's…" Grabbing the clock next to her, she stared down at the time in shock. "It's one o'clock in the morning Mrs. Peterson, and I was asleep." Falling back onto the bed, she pulled away when a giant red arm reached for the phone.

"I am calling because Callie Anderson is back in town! Isn't that wonderful darling? She's finally home after all these years. You know, I thought it was simply someone trying to vandalize her house, people do that a lot these days I heard. But when I called and she answered the phone I was so happy! It's about time that the darling girl came home, six and a half years is such a long time for someone to be away from their home. And she always loved it here. It's such a shame that her parents died in that car crash, they were such nice people and they loved their little girl so much. You know she was the top of her class when she was in high school, even graduated early and got accepted into Harvard and Yale and… Liz? Are you listening?" But all the old woman heard was the loud sound of snoring on the phone. Then a male voice started to talk to her.

"Mrs. Peterson, Liz and I are very busy right now making grandchildren for you to play with, so stop bothering us and get the fuck off of the phone!"

Liz looked up at Red in adoration. "You know, I love it when you do that."

Red grunted loudly. "Do what? Yell at old ladies?" Rolling over so that this back was to Liz he growled, "Oh yeah, real sexy. Go back to sleep."

Liz rolled her eyes and tried to drift back to sleep. But she couldn't help but let a slight shiver run through her body. Callie was back in town? They used to be best friends when they were little, Callie always was such a nice girl and they got along so well. Snuggling into the warmth of her sheets and Red, her last thought before falling back asleep was, "It will be good to have her back home."

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Hopefully you enjoyed it! To make it clear, Liz and Calypso knew eachother in high school, and then Calypso left after her parents died. I'm not sure if some people didn't get that, but you never know.

Rate and Review! I love to know what people think of my stories.


	2. The Meeting

**The Meeting**

Wow, shocker I've got the next one out already? I know, it's a little soon for you guys to deal with, but hey I wrote it, and it's done. So I might as well post it.

I don't own anything from Hellboy, sadly enough. I'd love to have a Nuada of my very own.

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The sunlight streaming through her window was what awakened Callie from her deep sleep. She hated to wake up before she wanted to, and it took her forever to roll out of bed and actually think for a moment. Yawning loudly, she stretched her arms over her head and smiled when her back cracked. This was the morning ritual for her. Get up, stretch, and lay back down. Get up, stretch, and lay back down again.

It was a tedious cycle.

But it got to the point where Callie realized that it could be time to get up. Her stomach was certainly a good reason for her to do so, its rumbling was going to wake up the entire neighborhood. That was something that her stomach insisted on doing and it annoyed her to no end. It had a habit of rumbling and groaning whenever there was dead silence and she was around a lot of people.

Placing her feet on the floor, she let the top half of her body lay flat on the body. It was a long time before she wanted to get up, even though her brain was yelling that she needed at least to get some food. "But I don't want to get up!" Callie said loudly.

But as soon as she raised her voice, she heard a racket from beside the bed and she finally remembered the little creature that she had discovered last night. Looking to her left, she nodded in conclusion. Yep, looked exactly like it looked last night, green, ugly, and totally out of her world. She was never someone to find things like this little bugger. Even in kindergarten when the rest of the kids were catching tadpoles and frogs and other gross slimy things she'd end up catching a couple weeds along with a beetle that everyone had seen before. So she wasn't the best person to get along with animals. When she was little she used to have a lot of animals. Dogs, cats, and fish were frequently in her house. But they always managed to die on her. The cats and dogs got hit by cars a lot, and the fish always boiled or managed some other means to escape her.

Walking over to the hamster cage, she tapped on the glass. "Good morning little one, did you sleep well?" But it seemed that the creature wasn't understanding her today, because as soon as she pressed her fingers against the glass it started to try and gnaw at her fingers. Quickly yanking her hand away, she stared at the creature that seemed totally engrossed in chewing its way out of the hamster cage. And at the moment, it seemed like it could succeed.

Starting to panic, Callie was ripped from her thoughts when the doorbell rang. "Who in the world-?" No one ever came to her house. Not even when she was still living with her parents did anyone come to their house. They would either call or send mail rather then come to their small house. And at the moment, she didn't know anyone but Mrs. Peterson that knew she was home, and Mrs. Peterson was in a walker, she wouldn't come over to Callie's home just to say hello. The old woman would rather call since it was rude to hang up on someone, but it wasn't as rude to say that you were busy and the house was a mess. Groaning, but realizing she couldn't dodge the old neighbor any longer, she made her way towards the door.

The stairs still creaked under her feet, but in the bright light of the day it wasn't as scary as last night. Shuddering, she looked around at the house as she made her way to the front door. It was a pretty freaky house to be totally honest. All the white sheets covering every piece of furniture looked as though they could hide some kind of monster. "Oh Jesus Callie, you've been watching way too many horror movies." Callie murmured to herself. And that was totally true, she was a slut for horror movies. Every new one that was out, she just had to watch. It wasn't as if she liked horror movies, in fact she hated them with a passion. She just had an addiction that was very hard to throw.

The doorbell rang yet again, and Callie felt annoyance start to grow in her chest. She hated it when people started to ring the doorbell more then once, finding it more then a little annoying and something that was extremely rude. "I'm coming!" She yelled, hoping that her voice would make the person stop ringing the doorbell.

Running her hands over her wrinkled shirt she tried to smooth down the fabric. Of course someone had to show up at the same moment that she wakes up from sleeping in her clothing all night and from forty eight hours of no sleep.

Opening the door, she plastered a fake smile on her face and said in a cheery voice, "Hello! Sorry I couldn't get here early I was just very tired from my… trip!"

Standing at the door was the last person in the world Callie would have expected to see, but was so impressed to see at this very moment. Liz, her oldest friend from the time when they were in kindergarten and eating glue together, was standing at the front door with a basket of muffins in her hands. "Liz!" Throwing herself into the arms of her friend, Callie knocked the muffins to the ground and stuffed her head into the neck of the woman outside. It had been so long since she had seen a friendly face, and the face of this woman was the one thing that she thought she could have only wished for.

"Oh Callie! It's so good to have you home! Where have you been all these years?" Even though at this moment, all Liz could think about was that she didn't want Callie to touch her, she still returned the hug. True, they had been friends when they were little, but Liz didn't know the woman standing in front of her. She had been gone for six years! And those six years were the years that everyone grew up the most, and changed the most.

Pulling out of their embrace, Callie smiled into her friend's face. "Oh Liz it's been so long. I'm so sorry that I just up and left you all like that, I know it was probably the worst time to do that. But I'd graduated, and my parents died in that awful crash! I needed to get away!" Pulling Liz into the house, Callie grinned as she gestured to the house around her. "Awful isn't it? Exactly as the way I left the damn house."

Liz stared around the house with an odd look on her face. Walking into the living room, she stared at the couch where they had used to play. "Wow, it's so weird. It's like looking into a haunted house or something like that."

And it was, Callie realized. The house look deserted, which it had been for far too long. "You're right Liz," she said with a mischievous grin on her face. "It's far past time to turn this into a real home. Off the sheets go then."

Grapping the corner of the sheet in front of her, she yanked it off the couch with a theatrical pull. Brandishing the sheet next to her side, she then crumpled it into ball and tossed it over her shoulder. Liz, shaking her head, said quietly, "You haven't change at all have you?"

Callie shook her head slowly, and then grinned. When she grinned she showed her teeth way too much, Liz thought. It had been a long time since she had seen her friend, but it seemed that she hadn't changed much at all. Callie was wearing clothing that she had worn around her friends, jeans and a flannel shirt, but she still had the same face, same hair. Her forehead was a little too high, her nose a little too thin, and her mouth was almost comically too much for her head. But her mane of blonde hair framed her face in a wild tangle of curls that gave her a more exotic look then anything. When they were younger Liz always had wanted her hair, saying that there was so much that Callie could do with her hair that Liz couldn't do at all. But Callie would always shake her head, saying that it tangled too easily and it was always in the way. Their high school life had been spent being angry at one another, making up, and then getting angry all over again about things neither of them would remember the next morning.

As the two ripped the sheets from the furniture and piled them up in one big bundle in the middle of the room, Liz felt like she was being brought back in time. They used to do stuff like this when they were little, not exactly restoring rooms from their past, but crazy spontaneous stuff. But at the same moment that she was about to go back down memory lane, she heard a loud crash from upstairs and stopped what she was doing. "Callie? What in the world was that?"

When she turned to look at Callie, she saw her friend holding her hand over her mouth. "Callie?"

"Oh my gosh!" Callie shouted. "I can't believe I forgot about it! The poor thing must be starving!" And with that, Callie rushed up the stairs, taking the steps three at a time.

Liz tried to rush after Callie as fast as she could, but her legs weren't as long as her friends. Sure the girl would hide those legs at any chance, but the girl had legs that went for miles. Once she finally reached the top of the stairs she had a good view of exactly what Callie was trying to corner in the back of the room. "Callie don't touch that!"

Liz knew exactly what that was, and was more then a little afraid of what it could do to her friend. It was one of the creatures called a "tooth fairy". They were called this because they had an unusual taste for calcium, which is found in skin, bone, and the most concentrated area of calcium was the teeth. Hence the name tooth fairy. Liz and Red had gone through a rather unfortunate accident with the tooth fairies last year, they had lost two good men to the creatures' hunger. Liz could still see them being devoured. One man's face had been ripped off, but she could still see his teeth and muscles below the skin screaming for help. And she knew, this was the time when she needed to call for help. Even though she knew that it was not the time to bring Red out into the open again, but Liz also knew that he was probably out in the bushes or behind her car waiting for her to yell for help. He was always so protective of her, and this morning he had made it quite clear that he didn't like the idea of her going to Callie's house by herself.

"Red!"

Right on queue, she heard the front door be broken down, and the thundering of her love rushing up the stairs to help her. Even though she didn't need any saving from anyone, she still loved the idea that Red would still come rushing to her rescue with guns blaring.

Callie meanwhile, was completely oblivious to the fact that Liz was so upset, and was still trying to get the creature to come to her while it was chewing on what looked like one of her socks. "Come here little one, what has gotten into you this morning? You were so nice to me last night and for some reason today you feel the need to chew on my stuff and ignore me?" Holding her hand out towards it, she wiggled her fingers. Shaking her head when it watched her swaying fingers with growing interest, she said quietly, "You need to come to me if you want me to get you something to eat. You've got to at least understand that." The little thing cocked its head to the side when she said eat, so she said it again. "That's right, eat, food. I'm going to get you all that you could ever want to eat if you will come with me. But you've got to come here."

That was when Callie heard her door being broken down and a moose coming up her stairs. "What the hell?" Her hand was still on the ground, and when she felt tiny pointed feet step onto her hand, she quickly stood up with her fingers supporting the creature. "Liz? What in the world is coming up my steps right now?"

She never expected what she saw when she walked out onto the stairs, and was shocked to a point where she had to lean against the wall to steady herself. A very large, very red demon was staring at her from the top of the stairs. And Callie couldn't stop the steady increase in breaths that she was taking. She felt as though her heart was about to break from her chest it was pounding so hard. The sight of the monster in front of her opened up way too many doors for her to want to understand right now. Was it possible that there was actually a hell? Was this the devil himself come to collect her soul? She couldn't die now, she didn't want to die! And how in the world was she dying right at this minute? Clutching at her chest, she gasped as she stared in horror at the beast in front of her. His horns were shaved down in an effort to look normal, but that did nothing to help him.

But for some reason, Callie had the feeling that the beast wasn't looking at her. When she followed his line of vision, she realized that he wasn't staring at her, he was staring at the creature she held in her hands. When he spoke to her, his voice was rough and deep. "Why are you holding that in your hands woman?"

The tone made her bristle, but she brought the creature closer to her chest and clutched it safely next to her heart. "What is it to you?"

Liz's voice interrupted her newly awakened nightmare, and the panicked tone in her voice made Callie's head swivel around to stare at her. "Callie, you don't know what you're holding. That thing is extremely dangerous, it could kill you!"

But when Callie looked down at the creature in her hand, she couldn't imagine it killing her. It was so small, so innocent! And it was staring up at her like she was the greatest thing in the world. There was no way that she could believe either of these two people who were trying to convince her that something so small would be able to hurt her. It wasn't possible that something as tiny as what she held in her hand could hurt her. It just wasn't possible. "You wouldn't hurt me would you little one?" When she whispered this to the creature in her hand, she watched its face look up at her. It stared for a moment, before nodding its head quickly, and then pausing and shaking its head just as quickly. Looking up in triumph at Liz and the beast next to her, she said, "See? I told you, it wouldn't hurt me even if it could."

The red demon stared at her in shock, and then looked at Liz. "Perhaps we should bring her to headquarters. And call in the fish boy, he'd know more about this then any of the morons there would be able to guess at."

Liz nodded quickly before walking towards Callie. "Callie, there's a lot I'm going to tell you right now that you aren't going to understand, but you have to believe me alright? All of this is true. And the proof is sitting down in your hands, in your ability to calm it down, and standing in front of you."

When Liz and Callie walked back into the bedroom, Callie quickly grabbed an old cuttlefish shell from her fish tank to feed to the creature. She figured it was hard enough for it to chew on for a while, and dusty enough for it to make a mess and have fun. Sitting down on her bed with the creature in front of her so she could keep an eye on it, Callie said to Liz, "Well then?"

Then Liz started to explain her and Hellboy's story. How he was born in Germany during World War II, and how she met him. She explained how she was able to make fire, even showing Callie the truth when she doubted it. The war and last year's events were also among the stories that Liz told Callie. At the beginning, Callie refused to believe what Liz was telling her. There was no way in the world that fairies were real. And there was no way that she happened to find one in her closet that she, and no one else they knew, could speak to it. But in the end, she did agree to come to the facility with Liz and the demon she now knew as Red. Why? Because somehow in her heart, she hoped to God that this was all true, that all this fairy shit was actually true and that somehow she was a part of it.

Callie had always wanted fairy tales to be real, and somehow her wishes had been granted.

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Read, Rate, Review, etc etc. You guys know the drill, I really want to hear what you think!


	3. A headache and a pain in the butt

**A Headache and a Pain in the Ass**

Wow, yet again. Another one is out yet again. This one, unfortunately is shorter then I wanted it to be.

I don't own any of the Hellboy characters. :]

**Just a little warning- **There is a lot of swears in this chapter. It's very heated, and to get the feel of that there had to be a few swears.

* * *

It had taken quite a while, but Callie could admit at this point she was starting to believe what the people around her were telling her. Apparently, there were fairies out there. This was where they had originally lost her. But then Liz told her that there were actually other things besides fairies out there and that even Liz herself had special powers. This was where Callie had burst out laughing. And as soon as she did that, she wished fervently that she hadn't started to laugh.

Watching her best friend go up in flames was something that Callie hoped she would never see. It was an experience that she would never forget. The fear in her heart that she had lost one of the few things that still tied her down to this land, scared her more then anything that they had already told her.

At this point, Callie felt as though her head was going to explode. She had a headache that just kept pounding away, and for a few moments she worried if she was going to get a migraine before she was swept into more stories. She learned what they went through the year before, with the Prince of the Elves fighting them the entire way. Her heart started to beat faster and faster when they told her the things that would probably get them in the most trouble. How they defeated the Golden Army and in turn had lost a dear friend to them. All of this was told to her in the one place that Red and Liz knew they wouldn't be overheard, the same place they had quit from the year before. The Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense.

"I- I'm not exactly sure how to take all of this." Callie said quietly, rubbing her temples with the tips of her fingers. The headache was really starting to progress. "There's too much for me to take in at the moment. Fairies and elves, wars and bloodshed, and all of this went on without anyone knowing? You killed that god in the middle of New York City and I didn't hear about it at all in Europe. How in the world did that happen?"

Liz and Red looked at one another before Red replied gruffly, "Who knows. The government is good at covering things up, hell they kept me hidden for quite some time." Looking down at himself, he grinned. "And I'm not a secret that's kept very easily."

With her head in her hands, Callie wondered if she had her pills in her purse. Then she remembered that she didn't have her purse with her and she cringed in pain. "Liz, I'm getting a migraine right now, so would it be possible for me to lie down in the dark somewhere?"

Looking at her friend in sympathy, Liz remembered exactly what these migraines did to her friend in high school, and it seemed like it hadn't changed at all. She was sure that Manning wouldn't like the idea of a woman he didn't know somewhere in the facility asleep, but Liz knew exactly where she would be safe. She carefully placed her arms around her friend's shoulders and said quietly, "I know exactly where you need to go. You don't have any meds with you huh?"

Callie miserably shook her head and allowed Liz to lead her away from the meeting room and into what looked like a middle sized library. "Are you sure it's going to be okay if I'm in here? Won't someone need to come in?" After all, it was a library. Something like this would be used, and if someone walked into the room with the lights off all hell could break loose. Callie knew she wasn't even supposed to be in the building, let alone be in the library with no one to watch over her.

"Oh sure," Liz said with a grin. "Manning won't know what to do. He didn't make me give him all my keys when I left, so I'll just lock the door from the outside." She slung a ring of keys in a twirling circle around her pointer finger. "I had a master key made just so that I could do exactly this. I love to see that man get his panties all in a bunch."

Smiling gratefully, Callie lowered her body onto the couch in front of her. Migraines were something that she had gotten since she was little and they were hell for her. Most people would say that they had a migraine but be walking around and in school or work. But that wasn't a real migraine. Real migraines were debilitating. She couldn't walk, she couldn't eat, and all Callie could focus on was the blinding pain in her head that made her want to scream.

At that very moment she was on the couch writhing in pain, her mouth open in a silent scream. It felt as though someone had stuck a knife through her skull and was slowly plunging it in and out. Inside her mind she was screaming over and over again but her mouth could make no sound. If someone had been in the library with her, and close to her, they could see her voice box move up and down as it tried to release some kind of sound. But nothing could come out of her mouth as the pain kept pounding on and on.

Who knows how long it was that she was stuck in pain on that couch. It could have been thirty minutes, it could have been fifty days for all Callie knew. Here sense of time was shot, and by the time the migraine subsided all she could think of was the desperate need to vomit. The pain made her body think that the only thing it could do was vomit everything that needed to come out, somehow it didn't understand that the pain was coming from inside her head rather then her stomach.

Lurching to her feet, she stumbled over to a desk that had a wastebasket next to it. It was just light enough in the room that she could make out shapes, but not anything else. Sounds were killing her at the moment. Every step she took echoed inside her head. Slumping into the chair, she sobbed quietly into the wastebasket. The last thing she wanted to do was puke in a place she didn't know and wasn't comfortable in.

Her ears were ringing! All she could hear was a slow shrill whining that made her wince in pain. What in the world could that be? And why was she hearing such a loud screaming?

As the sound slowly grew in volume, Callie slowly realized that it wasn't her head that was causing the sound. But the shrieking was making her even more sick and her head drooped until the basket was touching the ground and her head leaning over it. She didn't have enough strength left to even pick her head up and see what was causing the sound. All she could wish was that it was some other kind of demon to collect her soul. God knows she wanted nothing more then to die at this very moment.

Clutching her ears to block out the sound, the quiet sounds escaping her body grew into wracking sobs that caused her whole body to shake and her head to pound even more. But then it was only her cries that made sound in the library. The shrill whine had finally stopped.

It was when the door burst open and the lights flicked on that she let out a little scream that made everyone in the room pause. Stumbling onto her feet and holding onto the desk for dear life, she stared the gilled man down. "Turn. The. Fucking. Lights. Back. Off!"

He backed away from her, his awkward steps sending him straight into the chest of Red. "Girl you have no idea why we are even in here! Walk towards us and don't look behind you." Red said quietly.

Shaking her head in disgust, Callie couldn't help but retort, "You know when you say that someone is most definitely going to look behind them." Oh yeah, she was in a bitchy mood.

But when she turned around she saw something that she never thought she would see. The man of her dreams. His hair was past the bottom of his ribs, and the color of the sun through a haze of fog. Scars across his face intrigued her more then she ever thought possible. Callie could imagine running her fingers across the raised edges even as she stared at him longer. He was wearing the strangest clothing she'd ever seen, something like silk but finer and more delicate. His eyes were what drew her the most though. Deep and soulful, she could feel herself get lost in their depths. He looked like a corpse though, his skin tone making her wonder if perhaps he was one of the undead.

Unfortunately her body couldn't hold itself upright for very long. She was tired, and the hours of pain that she had dealt with caused her body to say enough was enough. With a tired sigh, she slumped to the ground. Her knees hit the wood floor hard enough to cause bruises she was afraid to look at later on. Thank the Lord the desk was there, because she was sure if it hadn't been there for her to lean on she would have fallen over onto her side.

"Callie!"

She looked over her shoulder at the people she had forgotten were standing there. Lifting her hand tiredly, she quietly rasped, "It's alright Liz. I'm just so tired. The lights and the sounds…" She rubbed her head gently, still feeling as though there was something inside of her that wasn't letting go of her brain. "It still hurts." Her words caught on the edge of a sob.

The man by the bookshelves spoke, his voice like liquid gold on her senses. "It seems we meet again Anung Un Rama." She shuddered when he stepped down the stairs in the library. He moved with such grace that she couldn't help but wonder what he was would look like in a fight. She could see his muscles ripple against his clothing, and Callie felt even more faint.

"I thought I killed you." Red's voice was a harsh contrast to the man's voice. But when he said these words, Callie made the connection that this man must be the Prince that Liz had told her they had killed.

"You are not welcome here Prince Nuada." Oh Nuada, the name would roll off her tongue in the most luxurious way, Callie thought. "You do not belong here." She could see Liz getting angry, the flames were starting to show around her hands and feet. "We killed you one year ago today, don't make me whup your sorry ass yet again."

But the Prince laughed, and walked closer to where Callie was slumped on the floor. Callie's breath caught. "I must ask you Liz, why is this puny human so important to you? Especially when the world of humans have turned their back upon you and your loved ones?" His eyes caught and held hers, and Callie was swept into a whirlwind of emotions. Who was he? Why was he here? Why was he staring at her like that? Good God she felt as though someone had ripped her heart out of her chest and stamped on it a few times before putting it back.

"Don't you touch her!"

But the cry was too late, for Nuada picked up the human girl in front of him and held her by the shoulders in disgust. Her glazed expression and limp body made him only too sure of the fact that humans were lesser beings, and didn't deserve even his slightest attention. "She is obviously weaker then all of you, why would you even keep her around?"

It was a source of great puzzlement for him, and Nuada didn't like to not know the answer to a question. He prided himself on being a thoughtful man. But the idea that humans could make some of his own kind love them, that was something he didn't understand.

But Callie wasn't the kind of girl to simply let someone, not even a prince, say that about her. "Excuse you!" Even though her voice was weak and thin, she still managed to somehow sound angry. "I don't think anyone asked you what you thought of me. I'm in pain here, I have something inside of my head that's slowly going to rip its way out of me and you have the audacity to tell me I'm weak?"

Nuada's face was priceless at that moment. He looked totally shocked. "You have something coming out of you?" Letting go of her shoulders with extreme force, he wiped his hands against his shirt with vigorous movements. Almost as though he thought she was contagious.

This was all too much for Callie. She was a small town girl that hadn't seen enough in her life, and at this very moment she could almost feel her mind give a little. With a snort, she burst out laughing and crying simultaneously. This was all too much for her! Fairies and princes and demons! She couldn't even manage to think because her head still hurt, and she could feel that people were getting ready to fight around her. With a sad little choke, she sank down in the middle of the floor between everyone and stared down at her clenched hands.

Liz couldn't help but feel pity for her friend. It had probably been too much for her to put on her at the moment. She had just gotten home and was trying to fit back into the life that she had left. Shaking her head slowly, Liz desperately tried to pull her mind back to the present. It seemed that Nuada wasn't as dead they had thought, and he was back in action to pull all his kind back into a war that would wipe out the human race forever. "So what exactly are you going to do this time your highness?" Her voice was laced with sarcasm. "Are you going to try and wipe out the humans and have us put you down like we did last time?"

His laughter echoed throughout the library, making even poor Abe shiver. His heels clicked on the floor as he sauntered towards them. "No, I plan to not be defeated by you this time. I will not use a crutch as the Golden Army would have been. And to ensure that you do not try to attack me again, I will take something of yours that you find valuable."

"Didn't you try that last time?" Red's voice interrupted their speaking. And he was indeed true. The last time that they had fought with Nuada he had stolen his sister away from them, the very sister that Abe had fallen in love with. "Where is Nuala by the way?"

A pained expression crossed Nuada's face, and Liz almost felt guilty about bringing his sister up. They were twins, and apparently in their world twins were connected by more then looks. They could sense each other's thoughts, and when one was hurt the other was hurt as well. She had been beautiful, but the fact that he hadn't brought Nuala with him was enough for Liz to guess that while his life had been spared by some miracle, hers hadn't.

"Nuala is of no importance to you," Nuada spat at her. Walking to the center of the room, he grabbed Callie by the hair roughly and smiled when Liz moved forward a couple steps. "As I thought. This human, for reasons I cannot understand, is more then just a friend to you." Pointing at Red, he said sternly, "If you want her to live, he will not interfere with anything. You won't, Abraham won't, and the demon most certainly won't come near my kingdom ever again."

Red walked forward with a swagger in his step, and Liz knew he was going to push what Nuada had just told them. Even though she hadn't seen Callie for over six years, she couldn't just deny that they had a friendship that went past all normal bounds of friendship. Callie had been a sister to her when she was a teenager, a time when her powers were just emerging and she needed someone to keep her grounded. Callie had done that, even though she wouldn't understand why Liz was calling crying on the phone. But Callie had always been there for her, and Liz hoped to whatever God was watching over them that she hadn't changed. Because she was going to throw herself into a pit of fire to watch over her friend at this very moment. "Red wait!" Placing her hand on Red's shoulder, she shook her head. "He'll hurt her, he didn't hesitate to hurt his own sister. He won't hesitate to hurt Callie. She's seen too much I understand that, but she's my best friend. I don't want her hurt."

The look on her friend's face was enough to make Callie almost break down again. She was barely following the conversation. Her head was so confused it felt like she was listening with her ears plugged. But the pain of the man holding onto the ends of her blonde hair was making her more then a little angry. Sure Callie used to be a weak little girl, but traveling around Europe alone had taught her a few things. She lived for a while with a man who taught her a lot of fighting tricks, and none of them were clean fighting.

Grabbing onto Nuada's wrist, she twisted hard in her direction and was gratified when she felt his grip loosen a little. Stumbling to her feet, she tried to get her balance and then stood and stared at him. "Excuse me but I'm not the fainting princess here." Putting her hands on her hips, she cast a quick glance over at Liz. "There wouldn't be any Mountain Dew around would there?"

"N-no I don't think so." Liz stammered back to her.

Snapping her fingers, Callie shook her head. "Darn, that would have really made me wake up a bit." Turning her attention back to the man standing in front of her, she started in on him. "From what I know, you are supposed to be a Prince right? Well, aren't princes supposed to have some kind of gentlemanly qualities? You, sir, have none! I don't care if you don't like humans, I don't care if you want to wipe out our entire race with some kind of idiotic war! When you see a female in pain you stop and ask her if she needs some kind of help, not grab her by the hair like some kind of barbarian!"

The startled look on Nuada's face was enough to make Callie continue on with her speech.

"God I cannot believe that the first time I realize that there are things like you in the world and the first, well technically third, creature that I meet has to treat me like a total jackass?" Placing her hands on her hips, Callie tried to ignore the fact that screaming so much was making her breathe harder the she normally did. Of course, that was simply because she was sick and needed to sleep very badly. "So what do you have to say for yourself?"

Okay now she was officially going into mom mode. It was a curse she'd had sense she was about ten. All her friends even nicknamed her "mom" because she seemed to be way too protective of everyone around them. And when someone did something wrong, she would the first one to point it out and then scold them for it.

She could see Liz and her newly found friends out of the corner of her eyes. All of their mouths were wide open and Liz was staring at her like she was one of the stupidest people in the world. Of course, maybe she actually was. Talking like that to a man that looked like Nuada did, well it wasn't the smartest thing she'd ever done. But flirting really wasn't her thing. Usually when she liked a guy she relaxed and let him get her. Callie was only a slight feminist, and still thought that guys should be doing all the work in the whole "asking out" process. Not that the process had ever gotten her any boyfriends, no not at all. She'd had a whopping one boyfriend all of high school.

"What did you just say to me?" The voice made a shiver run down her spine. The anger that was laced through that voice almost made her want to cry. That kind of anger should never inhabit a body unless murder was going to ensue at any moment.

But when her eyes strayed to Nuada's, she realized that murder very well might be going to happen. His eyes were on fire, and she could almost see the flames that he was trying to shoot out at her head. Before she could even take a step back to protect herself he was closer to her then a man had ever been before. She could feel his breath on her face, hot, angry breath that smelled slightly like peppermint.

Oh god, she should not be thinking like this. Good Lord the man was going to chop her head off and she was thinking his breath smelled like peppermint? Did the fairies even have peppermint?

"You impertinent human." His voice made her cringe backward, but she found herself held in place by his hand on the back of her neck. Why wasn't Liz and the others trying to help her? Liz had already stuck her neck out for her, why in the world had she not done it again? "I despise your kind. The very thought that you have no second thoughts about insulting another creature so effortlessly makes me sick!" He spat out the last word. "I will wipe the entire world of your disease before you spread into the worlds you do not know about!"

Pushing her onto the floor with a hard shove on her neck, he sneered down at her. "You are pathetic."

Throwing her head to the side, Callie scanned the room for Liz and the others. It was what she saw that shocked her the most. They were all staring at her, frozen in the same spots that she had last seen them in. Their eyes were the only things that were still moving, and Liz's were locked on hers. "Liz?"

The laugh that ripped out of Nuada's chest was poison to her ears. "They cannot move I'm afraid." Walking over to Red, he plunged a dagger into his chest. Callie could barely catch the words he spoke to him in a low voice. "You won't be able to get out of this one demon. Instead of the brawn that I brought with me last time, I brought a man with power." Looking at Liz, he somehow found another knife on his person. "And now I'm going to let you watch your dearest love die. As you made me watch mine die."

Before she could even think, Callie was on her feet and leaping onto Nuada's back. It wasn't an action that she thought about. If she had been thinking at the time she probably would have ran towards the man that was standing behind Nuada, the one that none of them had seen. But she wasn't thinking, so she did the only thing she could be expected to do. It was the whole "fight or flight" syndrome. She was going to fight to the end, and she knew how to fight as dirty as anyone else.

But the man behind Nuada wasn't going to let her hurt his King, that was what his purpose was. So before she could even take another breath, Callie found her body stiffening and she fell slowly off of Nuada's back. Staring up into the handsome and scarred face of the King in front of her, she couldn't help but feel the fear make the hair on the back of her neck stand up.

"You little human," she watched as he bent down to whisper into her ear. "You are going to live in hell now. You dare attack me? I will make you regret that."

And then a cloth was whipped over her eyes, and all she could see was black. A black that she would be staring at for hours upon end until the blissful happiness of sleep took her over.

* * *

Read, review, rate, etc etc. Hope you enjoyed this one! I brought a little Nuada out for ya. :]


	4. Beautiful

It had taken longer then she could have thought to get herself up and out of her dreams. It felt like she had been sleeping forever, and her head was pounding like she had a major hangover. Not that Callie could ever claim to having a hangover, when she was younger she had tried. But the taste of beer always made her sick, and not the normal sick either. Her friends would be feeling queasy after having five or six beers and Callie was in the corner puking after only five or six sips.

It was a curse. Callie had always been one that threw up easily.

But today it felt much more different then usual. And Callie couldn't remember whether or not she had drank anything the day before, in fact she would swear that she hadn't touched an ounce of alcohol the day before. Of course, she might just have been so hammered that she couldn't remember if she'd drank anything, but Callie really didn't think that was the case.

Groaning, she wiped her hands over her eyes. It was going to be a bad day, she could just feel it. But when she set her hand back onto the covers, she paused. Silk? Running her fingers over the smooth surface she was lying on, she stopped for a minute. Why in the world would she be lying on silk? That wasn't something she usually found in her apartment, and she could have sworn she had an old quilt that her mother had sewn on her bed at home.

Opening her eyes, she winced when the grit in the corners made her eyelashes stick together. Yesterday must have been quite an interesting day, she couldn't remember much at the moment, and all she could focus on what the pounding in her head and the fact that she was exhausted. Slowly sitting up, she dropped her jaw at what she saw around her.

"I'm definitely not in Kansas anymore Toto," she whispered.

She was in a room that she couldn't have dreamed of in her life. The walls were painted a deep red and lined with gold stripes. There was an old oak wardrobe and an oak table with a mirror mounted on it. Her reflection was staring back at her in shock, and Callie looked down at the sheets that covered her. They were also a deep red, and were covering a huge four poster bed that was larger then any king sized bed she'd ever seen in her life.

And then all her memories started to tumble back into her mind and she was couldn't believe anything that was happening. Had she really jumped on a prince's back? Where was Liz and Red and the other strange fish man that she had only caught a glimpse of before she left?

Where the hell was her life going?

Digging her fingers into her hair, she groaned and planted her face in the ridiculously soft pillows. Screaming into the pillow, she released some of her frustration before wrapping the back of her head and ears with a pillow and shutting out the world. She didn't want to be where she was now, and she couldn't stand the thought that she could actually be in some world that she didn't know about.

It was this deep contemplation that stopped her from hearing the doors open. The touch on her shoulder definitely woke her up from her self pity though, and she shot up like she had been touched with a spark of fire.

The shriek that came out of her mouth would have set anyone's hair on end it was so high pitched. The creature in front of her scared her so badly that she grabbed her pillow and clutched it to her chest in an attempt to comfort herself.

Bumps and rough edges seemed to be all that the creature was made of. It's face was dominated by two huge eyes that were the oddest mix of yellow with green flecks that she had ever seen. It only had slits for a nose, and therefore had nothing sticking out in front its eyes. The mouth was huge, almost reaching to the middle of its cheeks before the split stopped. Its hands only had three fingers, as well as its toes. And it was clutching what looked like a bunch of towels in its hands for dear life.

Oh now Callie had gone and done it. She always prided herself in the fact that she was never prejudice against other people and here she was making this poor creature scared far out of its wits!

Hesitantly dropping the pillow, she reached out a shaking hand. "I'm so sorry, I just was a little startled to see you there. My name is Callie."

The creature stared at her hand before sniffing daintily. "Well you should be sorry young miss, I'm just working here. Can't believe I got this ridiculous job anyways."

Her voice was a huge contrast to the way she looked. The voice that flowed over Callie's ears was like melted butter. Deep and soothing, she was positive that if the creature ever tried to sing it would make hundreds of birds and humans alike flock to her in adoration. The voice was without a doubt the most beautiful thing that Callie had ever heard in her life. And the accent sounded very Scottish, or maybe Irish Callie never really knew how to tell the two apart.

"I-I'm very sorry about that. You can imagine that I'm not exactly used to waking up in a place like this. I don't even know where I am!" Callie was a little hurt that the woman couldn't even stop and think for a moment that Callie was in a strange place. It wasn't that unreasonable to think that a captive would be a little scared waking up in a place she didn't know.

"Yes yes, well you'll have to get used to a place like this eventually." The thing was buzzing around the room again, placing the towels on a stool and disappearing into the wardrobe. "What did you say your name was again?" Came the muffled sound from inside the wardrobe.

It seemed that the creature was a lot smaller then Callie had originally thought. She couldn't help but giggle at the thought that the thing was inside her wardrobe. It wasn't a very big wardrobe, Callie was positive she could just barely fit her entire body into it. And even then it would be a very tight fit.

The thing came bustling back out of the wardrobe with Callie's clothing in her hands. "Here you are. You can put these back on now."

Confused, Callie grabbed her clothing. "What?" Looking down at herself, she found that she was completely and utterly naked. And that she'd been flashing the creature this entire time that they had been talking. Turning beat red, she clutched the sheets to her chest. "I'm so sorry."

But the fact that she was exposing herself to the creature didn't seem to bother her. In fact, she just snorted loudly and turned on her heel. This movement exposed something that Callie most definitely didn't expect to see. A tail was at the base of the creature's tiny spine. It was very short, only barely coming out of the brown clothing the creature was wearing. But it was most definitely a tail. As she heard the creature chuckle quietly, she saw that the tail moved in a small wagging motion.

"Did you ever tell me your name?" Callie asked the creature. She wasn't just about to keep thinking of her in a feminine form, besides, the creature said she was working for Callie didn't she? If Callie was going to see this creature more then once a week then she wanted to know its name. Though she doubted it would be a good thing to just call her "maid" or something like that. She didn't want to see what would happen if she made the creature mad.

"No I didn't." Apparently the creature was keeping busy just being in Callie's room. She was buzzing around the vanity and gathering up makeup in all of her six fingers. "My name is Lily, but I'd prefer it if you didn't speak to me at all." Toddling over to Callie, Lily tried to balance the massive amount of makeup she had in her hands. "I'm not supposed to speak to you or let you get comfortable at all. The Master doesn't want me to, and so that's what I'm going to do."

At this point, Callie figured it would be a good time to get dressed. It looked to her like Lily had some kind of plans for her, and she wasn't about to be stuck naked when she pulled her out of the doors. The determined look in Lily's eyes definitely wasn't helping Callie become comfortable around her. "The Master?" Her voice was muffled by her shirt, and she was quite sure that Lily couldn't understand a word she was trying to say.

But when her head popped out of her shirt she saw Lily staring at her with a dumbfounded look. "Yes the Master. Are you meaning to tell me you don't know who I'm talking about?"

Callie shook her head slowly. Maybe she was actually supposed to know who this "Master" was, but she didn't feel like it was something that had been in the job application. Of course, there hadn't actually been a job application. She didn't even know why she was in this mess. "I have no idea what you're talking about. The last thing I remember was attacking Prince what's-his-name by jumping on his back and then that wizard or whatever he was supposed to be freezing me. And then I woke up here only to be accosted by some kind of creature who didn't even want to tell me her name."

As Lily piled the makeup in different piles on her bed, Callie managed to get her pants on underneath the covers. She didn't want to scar the creature with any other images of her naked body. Not that Callie didn't like her body, she thought she was rather pretty. But she was very skinny, and her legs were longer then they should be. And of course, she always had the classic complaint that her boobs weren't big enough, the nasty A cups that they were.

"Darling, you should know who the Master is." Callie could see that Lily was starting to get distressed, her little tail was waving all over the place and her hands were shaking. "I don't know why he brought you here if you didn't know who he was! He shouldn't just bring random girls like you into homes like his, it could scare them. There are creatures here that could hurt you! Especially if you don't know your way around, there are things here that would stop at nothing to hurt someone like you!" She snapped her fingers quickly, before saying. "Well, I'm just going to have to watch over you then. Someone like you can't be wandering around a place like this! I'm sure the Master wouldn't mind. He did tell me to make your life miserable, but I can't do my job if you're dead!" Lily nodded her head disisively. "So that's what I'm going to do. Protect you first, then make your miserable."

Lily's tiny hands went immediately back to her work, where she was piling different makeup into different areas. Her emotions went from very angry to calm in a second, and Callie was wondering whether or not she had a case of multiple personalities or some other kind of emotion switching disorder. The tiny creature had just been freaking out and now she was humming away piling her makeup into neat little piles.

Slowly moving her hand towards Lily, Callie gently asked, "Why are you so worried about me anyways?"

"Because!" Lily's eyes had already filled with tears again, and she was staring at Callie with fearful eyes. "You are not safe here. You weren't safe when the master first brought you back here." Lily started to rock back and forth, her head shaking in a silent no. "You were so tiny! Limp in his arms like that I thought you were dead, but he said you weren't and I could see you were moving just a little bit. He told me to take care of you, so I did! And now you're awake and he's asked for you and I just can't bring you there. He'll hurt you! No one defies the Master without punishment!" Her tiny hands were grasping at the air and she wouldn't stop rocking back and forth. "This isn't the kind of job for a poor creature like me! I'm just the daughter of an ent and goblin. Half-breed they call me, like I'm some kind of defiled creature because of it. And the Master made me have this job. Me! He never trusted me with anything before, and now he's asking me to take you to him and you're such a pretty girl. I hate to see pretty things die, oh I don't want you to get hurt miss!"

Putting on a brave grin, Callie tried to reassure the creature. "I'm sure he'll be just fine. I'm not the kind of person that people kill without a thought, I promise, I'll be okay."

Wiping her eyes with her tiny gnarled hands, Lily looked up at her and asked, "Are you sure?"

Callie was sure that she shouldn't tell the creature she wasn't exactly sure what she was going on about. That wouldn't end well, and she hated to see something like Lily start to cry. She might have been ugly, and she might have looked like some kind of pathetic cross between a tree and a human baby, but she was kind of cute in a way. And when Lily had started crying her crocodile tears, Callie couldn't help but feel bad for her. Though her face was twisted and her eyes abnormally large, those tears had hit something inside Callie. Something that made her need to help Lily in any way that she could.

"I'm sure. Why would someone like your master hurt someone like me? I'm nothing to him, nothing at all."

At least she hoped that she was nothing.

Reaching forward, she touched the pile of makeup and asked quietly, "So what are all these for?"

Immediately Lily grinned and started to paw through the makeup. "These, are to make you look ready to see the Master. He's quite a vain person, and you couldn't go and meet him in the clothes that you are wearing now!" She looked disdainfully down at Callie's red shirt with the words "My boyfriend sparkles" on it. "You have a boyfriend? Oh that won't do."

"Oh no!" Callie laughed. "It's just a fan T-shirt."

A confused expression crossed Lily's face, but she nodded slowly all the same. "Well alright then. We're going to have to get you dressed now darling." She skuttled over to the wardrobe and opened it before disappearing inside it. Callie could hear slight grunts as Lily backed out of the closet yanking something after her. "Here we go miss!" The dress in Lily's arms completely covered the small creature, and Callie had to clap a hand over her mouth to not giggle too loudly.

It was a beautiful dress though. Sky blue with midnight embroidary, Callie was afraid she would break it. But when Lily dragged the white undershirt over her head and tied the corset onto her body Callie felt like a princess. As she ran her fingers over the corset, she could feel vines of embroidary against her hands. The top of the corset spiked into two peaks, effectively covering what would have been an indecent amount of breast, even for her. The skirt was long, and the over dress parted down the middle to show the white skirt beneath it. Her arms Lily bound with white and midnight ribbon all the way to her hand, and then she wound the ribbon between her fingers. Though it was strange, it was a different look that Callie very much liked.

Once Callie was dressed according to how Lily liked, she was then sat down in front of the mirror and had her hair and makeup done. Callie felt like she was in some kind of beauty parlor, and even then people didn't pamper her as much was she was being pampered. Her hair was let down and when Lily waved her hand over it the locks immediately curled. Her makeup was left natural. A little blush, a tiny bit of brown eyeliner with which Lily never once poked her in the eyes with, and that was that.

When Callie looked into the mirror it was like she was staring at someone else. She had never beautiful, not in her life. There were things that she had never liked about herself and there was nothing she could do about that. But for once, she couldn't find anything she wasn't happy about. Her dress was beautiful, it gave her a tiny waist and even made her chest look bigger. Her hair was finally something she was happy with, and even her face was enough to make her happy. She could look herself in the eyes and not worry about wondering whether or not she was ready.

In this dress, she could take on the world. Stooping, she gave Lily a huge hug. "Thank you so much! I haven't felt this beautiful in a long time."

Callie assumed that Lily was blushing because her faced turned a darker shade of greenish brown. "Of course miss. We wouldn't want you to look too bad for the Master now would we? After all, you have a natural beauty. He'll have to see that to let you live."

Those words made Callie's heart jump into her throat, very quickly followed by her stomach. "Kill me?"

Lily nodded sadly. "You are a human, and you have seen everything that happens. Master doesn't want any humans to know about us. Our world is supposed to remain hidden until he is ready to go on with his plan! You are a danger to us all."

A danger? Her? Callie knew she wasn't a danger, not to these people. Lily was so sweet, and if the rest of the creatures here were like Lily, well Callie wouldn't hurt them for the world! How this man thought that she was threat was something that was mindboggling.

Lily placed her hand on Callie's back and gently pushed her towards the door. "Time to leave now miss, your summons are now." She looked sternly at the door and muttered, "Unlock."

The click was so loud that it made Callie jump. The door unlocked just by saying those words? She stored that into her memory for later, if she ever got back to this room. Heart pounding with audible thumps, she placed one foot outside the door and hoped for the best.


End file.
